The INTO decision to ban co-operation with school inspections represented a genuine grassroots revolt by delegates to its annual conference. And TUI delegates yesterday unanimously rejected the proposal to publish school inspection reports. The union voted in favour of the emergency motion before the conference closed in Tralee. These votes reflect real concerns about plans to publish school inspection reports on the Department's website from June.
The Minister, Mary Hanafin, believes these reports are a much better alternative than school league tables. They will, she says, give a "rounded" picture to parents about all that goes on in schools.
The inspection reports will not specifically name teachers. Under a process agreed with the teacher unions, schools gain a right of reply to what is published. The Minister clearly hoped that these safeguards would assuage the concerns of members. But delegates voted overwhelmingly to reject the entire process.
The case made by delegates is not without merit. Yes, teachers will not be specifically named but many - especially those in smaller schools - will be readily identifiable. The Minister acknowledged as much on RTÉ Radio yesterday. If the report addressed the question of leadership in a school, it would clearly be referring to the principal, she agreed. There are other cases in which the concerns aired by teachers at the INTO conference could be justified. An inspector might, for example, criticise the standards in an English department in one second-level school, largely because one teacher is under-performing. But any published criticism of English teaching in the school could be seen by the school community as a criticism of all the teachers in that department.
There are issues here of fairness and equality. One delegate said teachers were going to find themselves exposed to a level of accountability, unprecedented in the public service. In truth, few other areas of the public service would even contemplate the idea of published criticisms of their performance. For all that, teachers signed up to these changes as part of the modernising measures under Sustaining Progress. The Department will have no alternative but to withhold the 2.5 per cent pay increase due in June if the ban on co-operation continues until then.
The hope is that both sides will resolve the issue speedily. There is an unarguable case for more public information on schools. But delegates have raised legitimate objections. The Minister, in her first major confrontation with the teacher unions, has to square a difficult circle. She has to find a way of providing more information to parents and the public - without in any way damaging the reputation of individual teachers.